Dish receiving member of dishwasher

ABSTRACT

There is provided a dish receiving member of a dishwasher having a dish rack provide with frames forming a dish receiving space. The dish receiving member includes: a holder body formed of plastic and detachably coupled to a bottom portion of the accommodation frame; and one or more supporting parts formed on a top portion of the holder body for supporting a dish.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a dishwasher, and more particularly, to a dish receiving member of a dishwasher that can receive wide, flat tableware such as dishes in an upright position at any location in a dish rack.

2. Description of the Related Art

A dishwasher is a device that removes foreign substances such as remaining food and dirt from dishes by injecting washing liquid at a high pressure through an injection nozzle.

In detail, a dishwasher includes a tub forming a washing chamber and a sump installed under the tub for storing washing liquid. The washing liquid is pushed to an injection nozzle by a washing pump installed in the sump, and then injected at a high pressure through an injection aperture formed in an end of the injection nozzle. The injected washing liquid removes dirt such as remaining food from dishes by colliding with the dishes. The removed dirt drops to a bottom of the tub.

The dishwasher further includes at least one dish rack for receiving dishes. Generally, two dish racks are detachably installed in the tub at upper and lower positions.

In detail, various tableware products such as small cups and wide, flat dishes are placed on the dish rack. Particularly, tableware products such as dishes are placed on the dish rack in an upright or laid-down position.

If wide, flat tableware products such as dishes are placed on the dish rack in a laid down position, they take much space in the dish rack, such that desired number of tableware products cannot be accommodated.

Further, in the related art, dish-receiving tines are fixed to a bottom of the dish rack. Therefore, the space of the dish rack cannot be efficiently used since other tableware products cannot be placed between the dish receiving tines even when dishes are not placed between the dish-receiving tines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a dish receiving member of a dishwasher that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a dish receiving member of a dishwasher that can separately receive wide, flat tableware such as dishes.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dish receiving member of a dishwasher that can be mounted on a dish rack at a desired location according to the number of dishes and other tableware products.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a dish receiving member of a dishwasher having a dish rack provide with an outer frame and an accommodation frame coupled to the outer frame for forming a dish receiving space, the dish receiving member including: a holder body formed of plastic and detachably coupled to a bottom portion of the accommodation frame; and one or more supporting parts formed on a top portion of the holder body.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dish receiving member of a dishwasher including a dish rack provide with an outer frame and an accommodation frame, the outer frame having a plurality of bars, the accommodation frame having a rack column frame coupled to the outer frame in a front-to-back direction of the dish rack and a rack row frame coupled to the outer frame in a left-to-right direction of the dish rack, the dish receiving member including: a holder body coupled to a bottom portion of the rack column frame; at least one frame inserting groove formed in a lower portion of the holder body for receiving the rack column frame; and supporting parts formed on a top portion of the holder body and arranged in at least two rows, for supporting a dish.

In a further another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dish receiving member of a dishwasher having a dish rack provide with an outer frame and an accommodation frame coupled to the outer frame for forming a dish receiving space, the dish receiving member including: a holder body including a frame inserting groove for coupling with the accommodation frame; and one or more supporting parts formed on a top portion of the holder body for supporting a dish.

According to the present invention, the dish rack can be more efficiently used in utilization of space since wide, flat tableware products such as dishes can be placed on the dish rack in a stand-up position at a desired location.

Further, since the dish receiving member is detachably mounted on the dish rack for receiving tableware products such as dishes, dishes can be placed at a desired location of the dish rack, and the number of the dish receiving member can be properly selected according to the number of dishes to be placed, such that the dish rack can be more efficiently used in utilization of space.

Furthermore, since the distance between the supporting parts of the dish receiving member can be adjusted for changing the distance between dishes placed in the dish receiving member, various types of dishes can be received.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dish rack provided with a dish receiving member according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the dish receiving member depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the dish receiving member when dishes are placed in the dish receiving member; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a dish receiving member according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dish rack 100 provided with a dish receiving member 200 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the dish rack 100 provided with the dish receiving member 200 includes an outer frame 110 forming the exterior of the dish rack 100, an accommodation frame 120 forming a bottom surface of the dish rack 100, and a grip 130. The accommodation frame 120 is curved in a U shape, and both ends of the accommodation frame 120 are coupled with the outer frame 110. The grip 130 is formed on a front portion or a top portion of the outer frame 110 for a user to pull or push the dish rack 100.

In detail, the outer frame 110 includes a plurality of horizontally-spaced bars. The accommodation frame 120 includes a plurality of bars that are uniformly spaced inside the outer frame 110. The accommodation frame 120 includes a rack column frame 121 and a rack row frame 122. The rack column frame 121 has one end coupled to a front portion of the outer frame 110 and the other end coupled to a back portion of the outer frame 110. The rack row frame 122 has one end coupled to a left side of the outer frame 110 and the other end coupled to a right side of the outer frame 110.

The dish receiving member 200 is mounted on a bottom surface of the outer frame 110 for placing dishes in an upright position.

The above-described structure allows a user to put dishes in the dish rack 100 and push the dish rack 100 into a tub of a dishwasher. The dish receiving member 200 of the present invention can be mounted on one side of the outer frame 110. Since the outer frame 110 and the accommodation frame 120 of the dish rack 100 are formed of the bars having a predetermined diameter and bent several times, washing liquid injected onto dishes can fall rapidly to a bottom surface of the tub through the outer frame 110 and the accommodation frame 120.

The dish receiving member 200 is detachably mounted on the dish rack 100. Therefore, the mounting position of the dish receiving member 200 can be changed according to the type and number of dishes to be placed on the dish rack 100.

The dish receiving member 200 mounted on the dish rack 100 will now be more fully described with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the dish receiving member depicted in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the dish receiving member 200 can be detachably and movably mounted on the rack column frame 121 of the dish rack 100.

In detail, the dish receiving member 200 includes a holder body 210 and supporting parts 220 extending from a top side of the holder body 210. The holder body 210 includes one or more frame inserting grooves 211 in a bottom surface for coupling with the rack column frame 121 of the accommodation frame 120.

The holder body 210 may be formed of plastic by injection molding. The supporting parts 220 may be formed of the same material as the holder body 210 or the dish rack 100.

Further, the supporting parts 220 may be formed integrally with the holder body 210. For example, the supporting parts 220 may be formed integrally with the holder body 210 by insert molding.

The holder body 210 includes at least two long surfaces and at least two short surfaces. For example, the holder body 210 may have a rectangular box shape. The holder body 210 further includes an outlet hole 213 allowing outflow of washing liquid. Therefore, washing liquid fallen from dishes can reach the bottom of the tub easily owing to the outlet hole 213.

The supporting parts 220 are formed on the long surfaces of the holder body 210 in at least two facing rows. That is, the supporting parts 220 are at least two in number and arranged at least two rows. The supporting part pair of the supporting structure 220 is arranged in a front-to-back direction of the dish rack 100. Each row of the supporting parts 220 is arranged in a left-to-right direction of the dish rack 100. That is, the supporting part pair is arranged in a direction parallel with the rack column frame 121. Each row of the supporting parts 220 is parallel with the rack row frame 122.

Therefore, dishes placed in the dish receiving member 200 can be securely supported by the supporting parts 220. Thus, dishes can be easily and stably put into and taken out of the dish receiving member 200.

Alternatively, the supporting parts 220 may be inclined toward the top surface of the holder body 210 at a predetermined angle. In detail, the supporting parts 220 may be inclined toward the top surface of the holder body 210 in a length direction of the holder body 210 at a predetermined angle from the top surface of the holder body 210. In this case, interference between top portions of dishes and a top portion of the tub can be prevented when the dish rack 100 is pushed into the tub. In another alterative case, the supporting parts 220 may be inclined outwardly at a predetermined angle from the top surface of the holder body 210 for supporting dishes more stably.

The frame inserting grooves 211 are formed in the bottom of the holder body 210 at the same interval as the bars of the accommodation frame 120. Therefore, the dish receiving member 200 can be mounted on the bottom of the dish rack 100 at any position.

According to the number of dishes, only one dish receiving member 200 can be mounted on dish rack 100, or two or more smaller dish receiving members 200 each having fewer supporting parts can be mounted on the dish rack 100. That is, the number of dish receiving members 200 mounted on the dish rack 100 can be freely selected.

Further, symmetric fixing parts 212 are respectively formed in the frame inserting grooves 211 for fixing the holder body 210 to the accommodation frame 120. Each of the fixing parts 212 has a shape corresponding to the bars of the accommodation frame 120. Therefore, when the dish receiving member 200 is mounted on the accommodation frame 120, the position of the receiving member 200 can be fixed. The fixing part 212 is snap fitted around the bar of frame 120. That is, the dish receiving member 200 is coupled to the accommodation frame 120 by snap fitting using the fixing part 212.

Furthermore, interference preventing grooves 214 are formed in both sides of the holder body 210. Owing to the interference preventing grooves 214, the dish receiving member 200 can be stably mounted on bars of the accommodation frame 120 arranged in one direction without interference with other bars of the accommodation frame 120 arranged in the other direction.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the dish receiving member when dishes are placed in the dish receiving member.

Referring to FIG. 3, the dish rack 100 can be efficiently used by placing wide and flat tableware such as dishes into the dish receiving member 200 in an upright position.

In detail, dishes are put into the dish receiving member 200 between the supporting parts 220 along the length direction of the dish receiving member 200. Interference between the dishes and the tub can be prevented by placing the dishes into the dish receiving member 200 at a predetermined angle from the top surface of the dish receiving member 200. If the predetermined angle between the dish and the dish receiving member 200 is large, the dishes take much space of the dish rack 100. Thus, the predetermined angle is properly selected according to the size of the dish rack 100 and the tub.

Meanwhile, since the holder body 210 includes the outlet groove 213, water falling from the dishes in washing mode can reach the bottom of the tub rapidly.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a dish receiving member according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the supporting parts are detachably coupled to the holder body.

Referring to FIG. 4, the dish receiving member 200 includes a holder body 210 and supporting parts 220 extending from a top side of the holder body 210. The holder body 210 includes one or more frame inserting grooves 211 in a bottom surface for fitting around the rack column frame 121 of the accommodation frame 120.

The holder body 210 further includes supporting part insertion grooves 215 in a top portion for receiving the supporting parts 220. The supporting part insertion grooves 215 have a size and shape corresponding to the supporting parts 220. The supporting part insertion grooves 215 are formed in long surfaces of the holder body 210 at a uniform interval.

Therefore, the supporting parts 220 can be detachably coupled to the holder body 210, and the distance between the supporting parts 220 can be adjusted according to the size of dishes to be placed into the dish receiving member 200.

The supporting part insertion grooves 215 can be formed in the top portion of the holder body 210 at a predetermined angle in left, right, up, or down direction of the holder body 210 for receiving the supporting parts 220 at the predetermined angle.

The supporting parts 220 may include lower threaded ends 222, and the holder body 210 may include a threaded portion 216 in the supporting part insertion grooves 215 for engaging with the lower threaded ends 222 of the supporting parts 220.

In this case, the supporting parts 220 can be firmly fixed to the holder body 210 by engaging the lower threaded ends 222 of the supporting parts 220 with the threaded portions 216 formed in the supporting part insertion grooves 215.

As a result, the supporting parts 220 are not removed from the holder body 210 by washing liquid injected at a high pressure.

As described above, according to the dish receiving member of the present invention, wide and flat tableware such as dishes can be put into the dish rack at a desired location in an upright position. Therefore, the space of the dish rack can be more efficiently used.

Further, since the dish receiving member is movably and detachably mounted on the dish rack, dishes can be put into the dish rack at any location and the number of the dish receiving member can be adjusted according to the number of dishes to be placed into the dish rack. Therefore, the space of the dish rack can be more efficiently used.

Furthermore, the distance between the supporting parts of the dish receiving member can be changed to adjust the distance between dishes. Therefore, various types of dishes can be accommodated.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. A dish receiving member of a dishwasher having a dish rack provide with an outer frame and an accommodation frame coupled to the outer frame for forming a dish receiving space, the dish receiving member comprising: a holder body formed of plastic and detachably coupled to a bottom portion of the accommodation frame; and one or more supporting parts formed on a top portion of the holder body.
 2. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the holder body comprises a frame inserting groove in a bottom surface for coupling with the accommodation frame by snap fitting.
 3. The dish receiving member according to claim 2, wherein the holder body further comprises a fixing part in the frame inserting groove for fixing the holder body to the accommodation frame.
 4. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the holder body comprises at least two long surfaces and at least two short surfaces, and the supporting parts are formed on the long surfaces of the holder body.
 5. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the holder body comprises an outlet hole for discharging washing liquid falling from accommodated articles.
 6. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the holder body comprises interference preventing grooves in both sides for stably coupling the holder body to the dish rack.
 7. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the holder body comprises a supporting part insertion groove in the top portion for receiving the supporting part.
 8. The dish receiving member according to claim 7, wherein the supporting part comprises a lower threaded end, and the holder body comprises a threaded portion in the supporting part insertion groove for engaging with the lower threaded end of the supporting part.
 9. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the supporting part is formed integrally with the holder body by insert molding.
 10. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the supporting part formed on the top portion of the holder body is inclined at a predetermined angle from the holder body.
 11. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the supporting parts are at least two in number and symmetrically arranged in a pair.
 12. The dish receiving member according to claim 11, wherein the symmetrical supporting part pair is arranged in a front-to-back direction of the dish rack.
 13. The dish receiving member according to claim 1, wherein the accommodation frame comprises a rack column frame coupled to the outer frame in a-front-to-back direction of the dish rack and a rack row frame coupled to the outer frame in a left-to-right direction of the dish rack, and the holder body is movably coupled to the rack column frame.
 14. A dish receiving member of a dishwasher including a dish rack provide with an outer frame and an accommodation frame, the outer frame having a plurality of bars, the accommodation frame having a rack column frame coupled to the outer frame in a front-to-back direction of the dish rack and a rack row frame coupled to the outer frame in a left-to-right direction of the dish rack, the dish receiving member comprising: a holder body coupled to a bottom portion of the rack column frame; at least one frame inserting groove formed in a lower portion of the holder body for receiving the rack column frame; and supporting parts formed on a top portion of the holder body and arranged in at least two rows, for supporting a dish.
 15. The dish receiving member according to claim 14, wherein the holder body comprises at least two long surfaces and at least two short surfaces, the supporting parts are formed on the long surfaces of the holder body.
 16. The dish receiving member according to claim 14, wherein the holder body comprises a fixing part in the frame inserting groove for fixing the rack column frame inserted into the frame inserting groove.
 17. The dish receiving member according to claim 14, wherein the supporting parts formed on the top portion of the holder body are inclined in a length direction of the holder body.
 18. The dish receiving member according to claim 14, wherein the supporting parts formed on the top portion of the holder body are inclined outward from the holder body.
 19. The dish receiving member according to claim 14, wherein the holder body coupled to the rack column frame is movable along the rack column frame.
 20. The dish receiving member according to claim 14, wherein the supporting parts are arranged in parallel with the rack column frame.
 21. A dish receiving member of a dishwasher having a dish rack provide with an outer frame and an accommodation frame coupled to the outer frame for forming a dish receiving space, the dish receiving member comprising: a holder body including a frame inserting groove for coupling with the accommodation frame; and one or more supporting parts formed on a top portion of the holder body for supporting a dish.
 22. The dish receiving member according to claim 21, wherein the supporting part formed on the top portion of the holder body is inclined at a predetermined angle from the holder body.
 23. The dish receiving member according to claim 21, wherein the supporting part is detachably coupled to the top portion of the holder body.
 24. The dish receiving member according to claim 21, wherein the supporting parts are formed on the top portion of the holder body in at least two symmetric rows.
 25. The dish receiving member according to claim 21, wherein the holder body is formed of plastic by injection molding. 